To My Readers



If this is the first time you're visiting my blog, thank you. Whether you're interested or just curious to find out about PCB reverse engineering (PCB-RE), I hope you'll find something useful here.

This blog contains many snippets of the content in my books to provide a more detailed overall sampling for my would-be readers to be better informed before making the purchase. Of course, the book contains more photos and nice illustrations, as evidence from its cover page. Hopefully, this online trailer version will whet your appetite enough to want to get a copy for yourself.

Top Review

I started doing component level repair of electronics with (and without) schematics more than 40 years ago, which activity often involves reverse-engineering of printed circuit boards. Although over the years my technical interests have shifted into particle beam instrumentation, electron microscopy, and focused ion beam technology fields, till this day——and more often than not——PCB repairs have returned multiple multi-million-dollar accelerators, FIB, and SEM instruments back to operation, delivering great satisfaction and some profit.

Many of the methods described by Keng Tiong in great details are similar to the approaches I've developed, but some of the techniques are different, and as effective and useful as efficient and practical. Systematic approach and collection of useful information presented in his books are not only invaluable for a novice approaching PCB-level reverse engineering, but also very interesting reading and hands-on reference for professionals.

Focus on reverse engineering instead of original design provides unique perspective into workings of electronics, and in my opinion books by Keng Tiong (I've got all three of them) are must-read for anybody trying to develop good understanding of electronics——together with writings by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill, Phil Hobbs, Jim Williams, Bob Pease, Howard Johnson and Martin Graham, Sam Goldwasser, and other world's top electronics experts.

Valery Ray
Particle Beam Systems Technologist

Saturday, October 3, 2026

The Engineer of Tomorrow


The engineer of the future will almost certainly possess tools unimaginable to previous generations. Artificial Intelligence will analyze complex systems in seconds. Digital twins will simulate entire platforms continuously, providing real-time insights into performance and potential failure modes. Augmented reality will overlay engineering knowledge directly onto physical equipment, guiding maintenance and repair with unprecedented precision. Autonomous inspection systems will monitor infrastructure around the clock, detecting anomalies before they become failures.

Yet these advances will not diminish the importance of engineers. Rather, they will elevate their responsibilities. Routine analysis may become increasingly automated, but the need for judgment, creativity, and ethical reasoning will grow. If AI can perform the calculations, engineers must provide the wisdom to interpret them. If digital twins can simulate every scenario, engineers must determine which scenarios matter most. If autonomous systems can monitor infrastructure, engineers must decide what to monitor and why. 

Tomorrow's engineer will therefore spend less time searching for information and more time asking meaningful questions. Less time performing routine calculations and more time exercising judgment. Less time documenting what has been done and more time envisioning what should be done. Understanding will become more important than calculation. Judgment more important than routine analysis. Wisdom more important than information. 

This is not a future in which engineers are replaced by machines. It is a future in which engineers are freed by machines to do what only humans can do: exercise judgment, take responsibility, and act as stewards of knowledge for future generations.

 

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